Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.
line By Steve Kanigher
Three Nevada legal experts say there was nothing unethical or unusual about the resignation of Chief District Judge Gene Porter, who has announced he is forming a new law firm even though his term does not end until 2008.
Porter, who announced Wednesday that he is resigning Oct. 24, is merely the latest in a long line of Nevada District Court judges who left office for various reasons before their terms expired. Porter, in fact, had replaced another judge who had resigned from office.
Porter said Thursday that he sees no conflict of interest leading up to his resignation or with his pending private practice because his future law partner, Alan Schimmel, has no litigation before the court.
"One of the reasons I chose to work with Alan is that he doesn't have anything here," Porter said of the District Court. "That's one of the nice things about it from my perspective."
Schimmel works for a Southern California law firm that specializes in construction litigation, community association law, insurance and real estate. Porter said he and Schimmel plan to open offices in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that will specialize in business law and government relations.
"This is a chance for me to hang up my shingle again," Porter said.
The legal experts agreed that Porter would have no conflicts as a judge as long as he did not preside over a case involving his new firm.
"There's no ethical violation at all," William Dressel, president of the National Judicial College in Reno, said of Porter's decision. "A judge is like any other government official. They're free to leave office at any time."
Dressel did just that, resigning from his position as a Colorado judge midterm in order to take over his current post.
Porter, 47, said he could earn more money in private practice, which would help him put his son through college. Richard Morgan, dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he knew of California judges in their 40s who also resigned for the same reason.
"I don't see any conflicts of interest," Morgan said of Porter. "Everything he did as a judge was done in open court. Everything he will do as a lawyer will be in open court. Porter is a good judge and it would have been nice had he served out his term.
"It's not unusual for judges in his age bracket with kids coming up on college to look at their financial situation and say they need to make more money."
Dressel and David Sarnowski, executive director and general counsel for the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, also said there is nothing illegal about an attorney getting involved in a case where he presided as a former judge. But they said it would be ill-advised for Porter to litigate such a case because of the appearance of a conflict.
"Certainly, he would have to be careful, as would his law firm," Sarnowski said.
Sarnowski said that if Porter or his firm did not mention a possible conflict involving a case he was connected to as a judge, "I'm sure the other party would bring it up if they didn't."
When district judges resign, the governor appoints a replacement.
Porter, a former state legislator, was appointed to the bench in 1995 by then-Gov. Bob Miller to replace then-Judge J. Charles Thompson and then won a six-year term in 1996. Porter was re-elected to another six-year term last November.
Thompson resigned to become a Clark County assistant district attorney. There were several other midterm judicial resignations in the county in the 1990s, including: Michael Wendell, who was replaced by Judge Lee Gates in 1991; Carl Christensen, who was replaced by current Nevada Supreme Court Justice William Maupin in 1993; and Addeliar Guy, who was replaced by Judge Michael Douglas in 1996. Douglas will replace Porter as chief district judge.
Nevada state archivist Guy Rocha said the first district judge in the state to resign midterm was Rensselaer Bigelow, who left his rural Nevada post in December 1890 to join the Nevada Supreme Court. He said it has happened many times since but he did not have a precise number.
"Most of the time it's because the judge has retired during the course of his term," Rocha said.
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